When it rains, it pours.

And this week was a wet one. Here's the rundown:

Marathon:
I was slated to top out in mileage--hitting 63--before tapering next week down to 45. While it's only three more miles than last week, the subtle changes occurred in the addition of two miles to Friday's morning and two to Sunday's. Overall, the week followed an 8, 9, 8, 6, 20, 10 format, with appropriate speed work built in on three of those days.

Work:
Here's where the "rain" really started falling. Schedules collided, and I ended up accepting two different essays across three different classes. Ever non-running, non-sleeping, non-teaching (*ahem* non-blogging) moment has revolved around reading and scoring.

The work also involved preparation for tomorrow's Bronco Invitational in Folsom. The planning and registration went smoothly enough, but it always seems to take more time than it should. Coaching for 4-5 hours on a Saturday also gets in the way of running and grading.

Attitudes at work also shifted this week, thanks to Homecoming. The schedule sagged under the weight of events, costumes, a rally, a parade, and a lot of hollering. Kids were really focused on school. Couple that attitude with the essays and you get an hour or so's worth of phone calls home (which ended around 4 today).

Body:
Maybe I should change the title of this section to "When it pains, it sores."

Things are creaking. The achilles lump has tightened and, though I keep in the icing rotation, proved to be a non-issue this week. Both calves remain unsettled. The lump from Sunday's 20 miler persisted through Tuesday and led to late-night cramping. The issue eventually pushed me back into sleeping in compression socks, and even ran in them on Thursday.

This (Friday) morning the calves held up, but the pain on the left side migrated up to the area behind the knee cap. I made it through, but am now a bit swollen, a bit strained, and a bit apprehensive about going 20 and 10 to close out the week.

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I want to believe my update next week will be sunshine and roses thanks to the taper. But there's always room in the sky for a little rain.

**Addition: Saturday rolled off like any Saturday during peak training should. The early morning, the long coaching stint on my feet, and the sunshine and small lunch made for a tough twenty. I started around 1:00, in a mid-October hot spell. The temperature was in the mid to upper eighties, and the humidity was high as well.

I made it through the first seven, then kicked into the GMP for 6 more. By the third--the turn around--things were crumbling. My sodium levels were low, my muscles hurt, and the heat seemed oppressive. I wore a fuel belt, so I couldn't remove my shirt and continue to operate comfortably. I passed ultra marathoners on the course and we looked equally sapped. The problem was, I do not operate like an ultra marathoner.

At the close the sixth GMP--the thirteenth mile--I had to stop. I walked a bit, but felt the backside of my knee tightening. I started the slower-paced recovery, and found plateau. I managed to keep it going for a mile or so, but felt the need to stop again to recover. This became the operative strategy for the remaining miles.

I finished at Sudwerks, still making decent time given the circumstances. My final long run, in my final weekend building up to MCM, in my longest mileage week on record, was, by no stretch of the word, brutal.

Time to taper!